Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons Job 14:1-2 Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.… I. THE IMPORTANT IDEAS SUGGESTED. 1. That human life is flattering in its commencement. Man "cometh forth like a flower." Imagery more appropriate could not have been selected. Children are like flowers in the bud, unfolding their beauty as days and months increase; the expansion of the mind, and acquisition of new ideas, fascinate and involuntarily allure the affections of their parents, who watch over them with the tenderest anxiety. The flower is cut down (Psalm 103:15, 16; Isaiah 40:6, 7; James 1:10, 11; 1 Peter 1:24). 2. Disastrous in its continuance. "Full of trouble." 3. Contracted in its span. "Few days." Life, in its longest period, is but a short journey from the cradle to the tomb (Genesis 47:9). Various are the figures employed to illustrate the shortness of human life; it is compared to a "step" (1 Samuel 20:3), "a post" (Job 9:25), "a tale that is told" (Psalm 90:9), "a weaver's shuttle" (Job 7:6), and a "vapour" (James 1:14). 4. Incessant in its course. "Fleeth as a shadow." Human life is measured by seconds, hours, days, weeks, months, and years. These periodical revolutions roll on in rapid succession. Some suppose it the shadow of the sun-dial; but whether we consider it as the shadow of the evening, which is lost when night comes on; or the shadow on a dial plate, which is continually moving onward; or the shadow of a bird flying, which stays not; the figure fully represents the life of man, which is passing away, whether we are loitering or active, careless or serious, killing or improving time. 5. Eventful in its issue. Death introduces us into the fixed state of eternity, and puts a final period to all earthly enjoyments and suffering; the soul, dismissed from its clay tabernacle, is introduced into a world of spirits, from whence there is no return. II. IMPROVE THEM BY PRACTICAL INFERENCES. Such being the character of human life, it is the duty and wisdom of piety — 1. To enrich the juvenile mind with religious instruction. "Man cometh forth as a flower," therefore let instruction drop as the rain and fall as the dew: no time must be lost. 2. Improve the dispensations of providence. 3. Be diligent. 4. Maintain a noble detachment from the world. 5. Live in a constant readiness for your change. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.) Parallel Verses KJV: Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.WEB: "Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble. |
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